The Rib of Destiny
One man... One dig... A life changed forever. Chapter 1: The Dig Karlos was a regular man. Until he went on the dig that changed everything. It was the 2nd June 2005. Being an avid palaeontologist, Karlos had jumped on the opportunity to explore a new dig site in Montana. He had organised his team and gone on the next flight from Heathrow. Upon arrival, the team spent a day or so resting, to recover from jet lag. On the morning of the 4th (US time), Karlos went out to the site. The site was barren and unforgiving. It was an open rocky plain, with no shelter from the sun. During the day, the rocks became baking and almost impossible to stand on. During the night, they became numbingly cold. The area was dotted with holes and crevices. This was where Karlos started the search for fossils. He peered into the crevices, hpoing to see a bone protruding. He had tried many before he struck gold. Part of a thigh bone was showing halfway down a narrow crevice. The rocks it was embedded in on either side held it up. Karlos called his team over, and showed them the bone. They all said they'd found nothing better, so the crevice became the starting point for their dig. The dig that would change lives. The days of digging were hot and tiring, and yet still the thigh seemed nowhere nearer the surface. On the fourth day, they broke through enough rock to expose some more of it. What was shown wasn't promising. A great crack ran the length of the bone. It was an unsightly wound, and Karlos was surprised the bone hadn't split. It was probably the rock pressing down on it, holding the bone in place. When they got it out of the ground, it would break. Upon realising this, Karlos called off the dig early - it was only half past three. Back in their hotel room, Karlos explained to his team why digging up the thigh was a waste of time. The next day, he said, they would go and search for evidence of other bones nearby. Chapter 2: The Storm ﻿The next day, the team were on the site again. They did find any more bones for a while, and Karlos suspected there were no more protruding from the rock, but eventually one of his team called them over. A long, smooth rock stuck in the ground was actually part of a rib bone of a large dinosaur. Hope restored, they dug with a new energy, and revealed a lot more of the bone before nightfall. The rib was actually connected to the spine, which was more good news, as they might have a big find. The next day the digging continued, and the entire rib was excavated. Then they moved onto the spine, but in the evening, disaster struck. Pleased with their progress, Karlos was considering packing up early, when he noticed a storm on the horizon. If it exposed the bones, they would be ruined. He gathered his team and ordered them to start putting the tarpaulin over what they had excavated - even the broken thigh bone. After completely covering them, Karlos explained to them that they would have to stay on the site till the storm had passed, to keep the tarpaulin over the bones. The men grumbled but didn't complain. When the storm arrived, they were prepared. Even so, it surprised them with its ferocity and the speed at which the winds blew. Rain cascaded from the clouds in torrents, and the boom of thunder seemed to tear the very air asunder. Lightning flashed, briefly lighting up the scene, but apart from that visibility was low. At one point, there was a scream, half snatched away by the wind, when one of the team was blown away by the wind. He landed painfully against a sharp rock that protruded from the rest. With the man gone, the tarpaulin started to flap, though it was nailed down securely. The motion threw off another team member, who grunted as they landed heavily on the rocky ground. Karlos started to get worried, but the storm passed over the site before it could do more damage. It turned out that the sun had barely moved in the sky during the time the storm was over the site. Though the tarpaulin had flapped loose, no wind or rain had noticeably damaged the bones, yet the same could not be said for the team. The one who had landed on the sharp rock was, expectedly, bleeding. Luckily, the wound wasn't deep or fatal, so they were in no rush to get back. When they did arrive at the hotel where they were staying, the receptionist called an ambulance immediately, despite the man's protests that it was merely a flesh wound. When the medics arrived, they washed the wound and bandaged it, but did nothing more, saying that was all it required. Karlos' sleep that night was light a restless, and he woke up many times just at the sound of an owl hooting. It appeared the storm had really rattled him. Chapter 3: The Rib The next morning, Karlos forced himself to get up early even though he was tired from his restless sleep the night before. All morning he was plagued with tiredness, until at one o' clock he fell asleep entirely, waking up sharply two seconds later as he smacked into the rocks on the site. After this he managed to stay awake. The day's dig rewarded them heartily. They excavated a lot more of the spine, and started on a few more ribs. They were all fairly good quality, considering they'd been under rock for millions of years. The sun began to sink behind the horizon while they were working on the second rib, and they were forced back to their hotel. Next day, the dig continued, and they excavated two ribs. One of them had a broken end, and inside the bone, something gleamed, an amber colour. Karlos thought back to the Isla Sorna incident that had been muttered about years ago. Suppose he could make his own Jurassic Park. From the DNA - for he was sure it was DNA - in the rib. Even better, the build of the dinosaur's skeleton made him pretty sure it was a large carnivore. Karlos concluded that he would sneak out to the site after everyone else was asleep, get some of the DNA, and work on it another time. Notes ﻿This is not a funny story. The Rib of Destiny isn't a good name, but it was the best I could think of. This is a serious story. I'm sure you can tell that from the first two chapters. Toothless100 18:14, July 4, 2011 (UTC) Category:Toothless99 Fanfiction Category:Incomplete Category:Jurassic Park IV